Hi All, Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas eating and drinking far too much with friends and family!
On Christmas Eve, we travelled to Bai Xep beach for Christmas. Both of us were more excited than we thought we would be. However, the seats we had booked for the 6 hour journey down south resembled wooden park benches. So after half an hour in the uncomfortable carriage we decided to move to the plush seating further down the train (after all it’s Christmas). The conductor accepted £3.50 to move seats - money well spent for comfortable chairs in an air conditioned carriage! Here we enjoyed a condensed milk coffee along with the last of our advent calendar sweets: chocolate coins, knock off Ferrero Rocher and peanut brittle.
The place we had booked for Christmas was absolutely perfect. We were shown to our beach apartment, just meters from the sandy shore. Never have we stayed somewhere that you can lay in bed and look straight out onto the beach. We turned up the Christmas music and set to work wrapping our presents for each other (in separate rooms). All wrapped, we placed them under our makeshift ‘tree’ - a large lamp adorned with a star...fish. That evening we joined the Christmas party. Starting with a table side BBQ and turning into a disco later in the evening.
Christmas morning begun sat on our porch with green tea, gingerbread men and chocolates looking out onto the beach while listening to Christmas music. Certainly a first! Ross presented me with a beautiful handmade 3D card, as he has done for the past 5 Christmas’, depicting a lantern scene from Hoi An. It is safe to say I was absolutely shocked that he had managed to make it all in one evening while I was sleeping, just using a page from his notebook, pieces of leaflets and his leatherman! I cheated and broke the tradition of homemade cards; instead I gave Ross a 3D Santa in a hammock between two palm trees, pretty fitting for our location.
After taking a walk along the beach, in our coordinating outfits that we had brought in Hoi An (inspired by all the matching Korean couples), we sat down to a full English breakfast! We pulled our crackers, put on our hats and enjoyed proper sausages and bacon right on the beach. Spending the day on the beach was a real novelty. We couldn’t have been happier that the sun was shining all day while we played in the waves (Ross) and layed reading (Danielle).
Both of us missed home and all of our traditions but actually felt so much happier than we thought we would. Skyping both of our families was an amazing addition to our day. As we opened our presents together with a view of our family Christmas trees, we felt a sense of home. We were both thrilled with the gifts we received and shocked how much we both got with our £20 budget. A scarf, silk dressing gown, Nutella and three pairs of earrings for Danielle. Then for Ross: a bow tie (to match his tailored suit), beef jerky, leather wallet, Vietnamese coffee and shorts (to add to the coordinating outfit set).
Christmas dinner exceeded both of our expectations. We thought we would be missing out on turkey this year but the British couple who own the apartments and beach bar organised a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. The only thing that they couldn’t get hold of was brussel sprouts; Ross was pleased he wasn’t going to be made to try one again this year. We both ate our own weight in roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing and turkey so finished the day with that guilty overfull feeling. Of course there was still room for a traditional Christmas pudding with a brandy flame; made less traditionally in a washing up bowl in a rice cooker!
Our Boxing Day began in the same way as Christmas - more tea and sweet treats. We went on a traditional Boxing Day walk but with different views to usual! We walked along a winding path up through jungle until we reached a plunge pool that we of coursed jumped into. As the hill got steeper, we continued alongside the river, passed beautiful water falls and to a natural pool with an incredible view. We spent the afternoon finishing the rest of our Christmas wine and nibbles while doing the annual quiz (sent by papa Angella) and playing cards.
As we were having such a wonderful time relaxing, we decided to add another night to our stay. We easily filled the next couple of days by playing pool, getting massages and eating more great food (including a seafood BBQ)! We wouldn’t plan another Christmas away from home any time soon but both had a really lovely day and an even more fantastic Christmas break on the beach.
Next we are heading to Ho Chi Minh city, formerly Saigon, by overnight train, to see our friends Matthew and Imy who are flying out to see us. They are spending New Years Eve and the next three weeks with us as we travel up the Mekong Delta and into Cambodia - we can’t wait to see them!
Love R and D xxx
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